The world has lost a wonderful crazy cat lady. Lilian Jackson Braun's series of mystery novels included titles like The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers, The Cat Who Played Brahms, The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare, The Cat Who Sniffed Glue, and, of course, The Cat Who Smelled a Rat.

According to her obituary, while some critics thought the books — which had very little sex or violence — were charming, others criticized the simple plots and formulaic writing. But: